Before a single tweak to the roster, the Tampa Bay Lightning were already poised for improvement in 2010-11. With the tumultuous era of previous ownership already behind them when the sale of the team to Jeff Vinik was completed late last season, gone in an instant were any and all off-ice concerns and the circus went back to being an annual visitor to the St. Pete Times Forum rather than a permanent resident. With the appointment of Steve Yzerman as general manager, credibility returned to the franchise and new head coach Guy Boucher was widely regarded as the hottest commodity on the off-season coaching market.

Without a solitary player move, hockey life in Tampa was good again.

But far be it from Yzerman to rest on the comfort that fans surely feel by him simply not being one of those other guys. The addition of former Flyers forward Simon Gagne headlines a list of shrewd off-season maneuvers for the rookie GM and the revamped roster could very well translate to the sort of on-ice success that will make Lightning followers quickly forgot about three non-playoff seasons gone by.

Eric Perrin hopes to be playing for some team other than the Thrashers come Wednesday evening.

“I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that,” Perrin said after Monday’s practice. “It’s no secret things haven’t gone the way I wanted them to.”...

Now, as the 3 p.m. Wednesday trade deadline nears, Perrin hopes there’s another NHL team that remembers him that way and hasn’t forgotten the 45 points he scored last season.

“I’m disappointed I’m at this point with this organization,” said Perrin, who has 15 points this season, with five goals and 10 assists. “I thought I’d proven something, that I’d be a part of the rebuilding. I thought I deserved a better fate.”

Having spent most of last season on a line with Brad Richards, he was looking forward to a similar role this year, a perception which evidently was not shared by Lightning management. “I think the Lightning philosophy is to imitate the Anaheim Ducks and add more size to the line-up. It didn’t look like I figured in their plans,” he specified. “I expected to get an offer from Tampa Bay that would reflect what I had accomplished with the team, but it never came. I was disappointed. I’m not a fourth-line player,” added the former member of the Midget AAA Laval-Laurentides-Lanaudière Regents.

Consequently, Perrin opted for free-agency in the hope that another team would make him a better offer. There was no shortage of interest in acquiring him. As of the first day free agents could be pursued, July 1, offers flooded in from Atlanta, the Islanders, Detroit and Phoenix.